| Direct laser patterning (DLP) of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) using elliptical laser beams is the focus of this research. In DLP, patterning SAM is achieved by desorbing the monolayers in a thermally-driven process through localized heating of the sample in desired region using focused laser beams. Using elliptical laser beams, large features in sub-millimeter scale could be created. By solving the heat diffusion model and thermo-kinetics model, patterning conditions (such as laser power, scanning velocity, and beam aspect ratio) to create large features have been analyzed. Both theoretical prediction and experimental results show that the maximum feature size obtained in a single pass can be in sub-millimeter scale which is larger than that obtained by regular circular beams under the same patterning condition. This is the first experimental demonstration of patterning a monomolecular layer using elliptical laser beams. Furthermore, the theoretical prediction especially the thermal-kinetics model used can be of use in other areas than DLP. |
